Essex county council today attacked media coverage of an adoption case which saw social workers branded as "child snatchers" for removing two children from a couple with low IQs.

A high court judge yesterday ruled that the couple must give up their four-year-old daughter and 14-month-old son because they were incapable of parenting.

Mrs Justice Pauffley agreed with Essex social services that the children would be at risk if they continued to live at home. The children were placed with foster parents last year.

Essex councillor Tracey Chapman, cabinet member for children and families, rejected reports that the family was targeted by social services merely because the mother, 28, has learning difficulties. She can read and write, but has an IQ of 60 and difficulty in understanding ideas. The councillor said the father, aged 37, also has a low IQ.

Ms Chapman said the Daily Mail's coverage of the case, which referred to social workers as child snatchers, was unjustified.

"It's incredibly demoralising for social workers to be attacked in this way. The judge commended our handling of this case."

The councillor said social services had done everything they could to keep the family together and provided them with up to 30 hours of support per week. But she said the parents had not been able to develop the skills to adequately care for their offspring.

The councillor said: "We put in as much support as we could to this family. Wherever possible we try to enable families to remain together, and that is what social workers tried to do in this case."

The case has highlighted concern that parents with learning disabilities are disproportionately likely to have their children taken into care. Recent research by retired academic Tim Booth, formerly chairman in sociological studies at Sheffield University, found that 15% of local authority care proceedings involved parents with learning disabilities.